Trim Discoloration

[BABS]

Help, I have a 2020 Genesis G80 Sport with significant discoloration on the trim around the windows. This discoloration occurred within 1 month of ownership (I picked up my new vehicle Sept 2020). I have been continuously asking the Dealership Service Advisor what is going to be done to correct this concern to no avail. Today his answer was the Service Manager said they could do nothing to help as this is "a known concern caused by outside influences such as a chemical cleaner". Any idea why this wouldn't be covered under the manufacturer warrant? Any suggested next steps? Thanks

 

[BABS]

Help, I have a 2020 Genesis G80 Sport with significant discoloration on the trim around the windows. This discoloration occurred within 1 month of ownership (I picked up my new vehicle Sept 2020). I have been continuously asking the Dealership Service Advisor what is going to be done to correct this concern to no avail. Today his answer was the Service Manager said they could do nothing to help as this is "a known concern caused by outside influences such as a chemical cleaner". Any idea why this wouldn't be covered under the manufacturer warrant? Any suggested next steps? Thanks

 

[5.0KDM]

The dealer should replace it but my guess is that the new trim will also fade.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Help, I have a 2020 Genesis G80 Sport with significant discoloration on the trim around the windows. This discoloration occurred within 1 month of ownership (I picked up my new vehicle Sept 2020). I have been continuously asking the Dealership Service Advisor what is going to be done to correct this concern to no avail. Today his answer was the Service Manager said they could do nothing to help as this is "a known concern caused by outside influences such as a chemical cleaner". Any idea why this wouldn't be covered under the manufacturer warrant? Any suggested next steps? Thanks

Welcome. Moving this into our Genesis G80 forum...

 

[dareckibmw]

I have a '18 G80 sport and all those trims were replaced twice already at no cost.

G80 Sport - discoloration of the dark chrome trim around the doors

I have my G80 sport for about 3 months and after I got my car back from the dealership for some rattle and armrest fabric issue. I notice that the dark chrome trim around the doors starting to discolor. I see spots everywhere on the chrome. Pieces started to look like it was from a 15 year...

genesisowners.com

 

[wrk2hrd]

My 2018' is about to have its trim replaced for a 2nd time under warranty. The second time it was less to do with the discoloration, and more to do w/ the rubber protectant placed atop the trim for shipping wouldn't fully come off.

 

[BABS]

So your dealer is giving you no pushback and replacing the trim for a second time? Did you require any level of escalation beyond the dealership? I'm being denied by the dealership indicating there's a technical service bulletin stating a specific chemical cleaner should be applied. I intend to apply the cleaner in the presence of the dealership personnel so they can witness the outcome, Simply stripping the dark tint off is not acceptable, I specifically ordered the blacked out version. Thanks for your assistance

 

[BABS]

My 2018' is about to have its trim replaced for a 2nd time under warranty. The second time it was less to do with the discoloration, and more to do w/ the rubber protectant placed atop the trim for shipping wouldn't fully come off.

So your dealer is giving you no pushback and replacing the trim for a second time? Did you require any level of escalation beyond the dealership? I'm being denied by the dealership indicating there's a technical service bulletin stating a specific chemical cleaner should be applied. I intend to apply the cleaner in the presence of the dealership personnel so they can witness the outcome, Simply stripping the dark tint off is not acceptable, I specifically ordered the blacked out version. Thanks for your assistance

 

[wrk2hrd]

So your dealer is giving you no pushback and replacing the trim for a second time? Did you require any level of escalation beyond the dealership? I'm being denied by the dealership indicating there's a technical service bulletin stating a specific chemical cleaner should be applied. I intend to apply the cleaner in the presence of the dealership personnel so they can witness the outcome, Simply stripping the dark tint off is not acceptable, I specifically ordered the blacked out version. Thanks for your assistance

It's being replaced a second time because they screwed up 3 pieces during the initial replacement. Costing me an 8-hour drive roundtrip + hotel. So no, no pushback.

 

[BFerrar]

It’s been my unfortunate experience that Genesis HQ has almost zero influence over the behavior over their franchisees. Consequently, service and willingness to honor warranties – even when presented with the warranty itself – vary greatly dealer to dealer. It is the one biggest problem with the Genesis brand.

I have even escalated warranty coverage issues to the regional Genesis HQ customer support people, who told one dealer I was at that the issue was indeed covered under warranty, and they should fix it. And the dealer said no. They didn’t care what HQ said. Done. HQ personnel could do nothing.

Only advice they could give me was, go to a different dealer because we know this one sucks.

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[2018g80sport3.3]

I’m not sure what they used, but my dealership polished all my trim pieces when I took it in for service. So there must be something that works to clean those stubborn things

 

[StarPower]

Unfortunately, this happens over time. I suspect that the OP's dealer used either a wax or polish to make the trim pieces appear nice for the sale. I would be careful about using an abrasive polish to remove the hazed material. The hazing indicates a failure of the coating system, and polishing off the failed layers could make the remaining paint fail even faster.

Even if you have the trim pieces replaced, the new ones will likely fail eventually. I wonder if anybody has successfully sanded and repainted them. Without knowing why they fail, it's hard to tell whether the factory simply chose a bad paint or there is an incompatibility between the base material and most automotive paints that could cause them to fail even if repainted with a different paint.

 

[G-854538]

Help, I have a 2020 Genesis G80 Sport with significant discoloration on the trim around the windows. This discoloration occurred within 1 month of ownership (I picked up my new vehicle Sept 2020). I have been continuously asking the Dealership Service Advisor what is going to be done to correct this concern to no avail. Today his answer was the Service Manager said they could do nothing to help as this is "a known concern caused by outside influences such as a chemical cleaner". Any idea why this wouldn't be covered under the manufacturer warrant? Any suggested next steps? Thanks

I have used Mothers Mag and Aluminum cleaner.

 

[AuditoGenesis]

If you let them "polish" those pieces, it's only going to delay the inevitable until your warranty expires. I would never let them apply any polishing product. I have a GV70 with the same problem and I ended up paying someone to wrap it in black satin vinyl in an effort to avoid the problem altogether. The other option is to ceramic coat the pieces to prevent the oxidation that causes it.

 

[bubbaG80Sport]

I had the trim on my 2018 G80 Sport replaced 3x under warranty. Car is at 65K miles and dealer will no longer replace the trim under warranty. The 2018 Sport had a darker window trim to go with the "copper' accents on the rest of the car. There was some sort of coating/lacquer on this window trim. This coating was prone to discoloration/oxidation. I tried waxing, CG ceramic coating and nothing to prevent the issue with no success. Eventually the discoloration returned.

This year I polished off the coating. I tried various buffing compounds, testing on an old piece of window trim I had. I tested paint polishing compound, bar keepers friend, aluminum wheel polish with a wax bufferer and a Dremel with buffing pad. Using acetone (finger nail polish remover) to break down the coating, microfiber towel and buffing compound for plastic worked the best.

I taped of the trim before buffing. I buffed each piece ~ 5X to completely remove coating. The trim piece section under front side mirrors was the toughest to get to. Unless you compared this to a factory window trimmed G80 you would not be able to tell the difference. I've seen a few used G80's on the dealer lot with this issue. The dealer polished out the window trim but it looked like excrement.

 

[AuditoGenesis]

I had the trim on my 2018 G80 Sport replaced 3x under warranty. Car is at 65K miles and dealer will no longer replace the trim under warranty. The 2018 Sport had a darker window trim to go with the "copper' accents on the rest of the car. There was some sort of coating/lacquer on this window trim. This coating was prone to discoloration/oxidation. I tried waxing, CG ceramic coating and nothing to prevent the issue with no success. Eventually the discoloration returned.

This year I polished off the coating. I tried various buffing compounds, testing on an old piece of window trim I had. I tested paint polishing compound, bar keepers friend, aluminum wheel polish with a wax bufferer and a Dremel with buffing pad. Using acetone (finger nail polish remover) to break down the coating, microfiber towel and buffing compound for plastic worked the best.

I taped of the trim before buffing. I buffed each piece ~ 5X to completely remove coating. The trim piece section under front side mirrors was the toughest to get to. Unless you compared this to a factory window trimmed G80 you would not be able to tell the difference. I've seen a few used G80's on the dealer lot with this issue. The dealer polished out the window trim but it looked like excrement.

Wow...
That's good to know.
The Ceramic Coating gives me a whole lot of pause....
If it doesn't work on the trim, does it really work on the paint???

 

[bubbaG80Sport]

Wow...
That's good to know.
The Ceramic Coating gives me a whole lot of pause....
If it doesn't work on the trim, does it really work on the paint???

I used spray on Chemical Guys HYDROSLICK INTENSE GLOSS SIO2 CERAMIC COATING HYPERWAX to try and protect window trim. This is not the same as a true ceramic coating (TCC) which typically costs >=$100USD for 60 ml + labor to apply. I've used TCC on the paint of my 2011 Hyundai Genesis. It works well keeping car cleaner and protects from road grime, tree sap and bird crap (that rhymes ). I went with protective film on my current G80 Sport for better protection. ~$1-2KUSD depending on how much of car is filmed.

IMO, a TCC will help but ultimately, I think it's UV light breaking down the coating on the trim. Also, the CC is binding to the coating on the trim which is discoloring/breaking down. Ceramic coating will delay this, but eventually the issue will reoccur IMO.

 

[AuditoGenesis]

I used spray on Chemical Guys HYDROSLICK INTENSE GLOSS SIO2 CERAMIC COATING HYPERWAX to try and protect window trim. This is not the same as a true ceramic coating (TCC) which typically costs >=$100USD for 60 ml + labor to apply. I've used TCC on the paint of my 2011 Hyundai Genesis. It works well keeping car cleaner and protects from road grime, tree sap and bird crap (that rhymes ). I went with protective film on my current G80 Sport for better protection. ~$1-2KUSD depending on how much of car is filmed.

IMO, a TCC will help but ultimately, I think it's UV light breaking down the coating on the trim. Also, the CC is binding to the coating on the trim which is discoloring/breaking down. Ceramic coating will delay this, but eventually the issue will reoccur IMO.

I'm an OCD schmuck and have done TCC's (the pro stuff from pro installers) AND PPF on all my vehicles in the last 15 years...
I used to detail my cars myself, it was very cathartic.
Can't do it anymore...

But your description of the trim, related to TCC is a bit scary.
I wonder now if it's actually oxidation, or some other process.
Oxidation requires oxygen which means the TCC would have pores...
And if the TCC has pores, it would offer little to no protection....
Things that make you go F--K.

 

[joeHarley]

I’m not sure what they used, but my dealership polished all my trim pieces when I took it in for service. So there must be something that works to clean those stubborn things

 

[joeHarley]

I have a 2023 G89 which has hazing of the trim moldings. I also have a problem with noises from the drive train. It is at the dealer now for 3 weeks with no fix. They have changed the differential but noise continues . Just ordered a new drive shaft and will be installed on Monday. Not looking very good. I have escalated to Genesis Corporate but haven’t received much help. They have no powe over the dealership. This is my 5th Genesis and if not fixed my last.